Marriage
Marriage is a custom common to most races of two genders where a man and a woman are joined together for a lifetime in a ceremony called a wedding, with the possibility of a family being produced through the marriage. Marriages in the particular time period that most of the Smurfs stories are set in were usually arranged by the parents, though as depicted in the stories themselves, the characters usually marry out of love for each other. Heterosexual marriage is considered a virtue in Christianity with the intention that families may be produced and that the virtues of godliness would be instilled upon future generations. In Smurfs Media There are some characters in the Smurfs cartoon series that are married. Selwyn and Tallulah are a married human couple of sorcerers that, despite their constant bickering and fighting, still show love for each other. In the cartoon special "Smurfily Ever After", Laconia the wood elf was joined to Woody through a ceremony held by the Smurfs which Gargamel had crashed with his ghoulish calliope. Bigmouth and Bignose are a couple of ogres that at some point during the cartoon series fell in love with each other and became married. In the cartoon show special "'Tis The Season To Be Smurfy", the Smurfs bring joy to an elderly human couple Gustav and Elise at a time when Elise was sick to the point where it would have been her last Christmas. In the "non-canonical" 2011 Smurfs movie, the Smurfs visit a modern-day human couple, Patrick and Grace Winslow, who are expecting their first child. It is possible, despite the fact that the Smurfs are mostly depicted as a single-gendered race of males with a few magically-created female Smurfs, and with reproduction of new Smurfs done through non-physical means, that marriages can also take place in their culture. However, since Smurfette loves her fellow Smurfs to the point where she couldn't decide which one of them she will ever settle down with, and since very little is revealed about the nature of Grandpa Smurf's relationship with Nanny Smurf, this can only be speculated upon. Nonetheless, in the cartoon show episode "Papa's Wedding Day", Papa Smurf found himself falling in love with Flowerbell the woodnymph, who made him feel young again, and was intending to marry her until it was revealed that she was just using him so he could be captured by Lord Balthazar in exchange for her freedom. Empath: The Luckiest Smurf stories "As it was smurfed in the beginning, so shall it smurf, that male and female shall be smurfed together as one so that they may be fruitful with the blessings of love and family. And may the bonds of unity never be broken until death do they smurf." : - A Smurf wedding blessing "You are my Smurf/Psychelian brother, and you are my friend." : - Empath and Polaris's standard term of endearment for each other Due to the Smurfs being a race of two genders in the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story series, marriages are part of their culture, though the last known case of any Smurfs marrying prior to the present time in the series was when Papa Smurf's fellow Smurfs had all married and became parents of Empath's generation of Smurfs. Although Smurfs are generally considered physically developed and capable of reproducing at 100 years of age, which is when they become adults, societal norms suggest that they must be at least 150 years old to marry and have children, and all unions of that sort must be male and female, as any same-sex unions in their culture are not recognized as marriages. Weddings in Smurf culture are conducted in a similar manner to human weddings, with a Smurf assigned as the designated minister who invokes the blessings of Mother Nature and Father Time upon the union. Brides are accompanied by a maid of honor, bridesmaids, and a flower girl, while grooms are accompanied by a best man, ushers, and a ring bearer. Brides are given a wedding shower of gifts while grooms are given a bachelor party to celebrate the end of their innocence. On the day of the wedding, the bride wears the same colored hat as her husband to indicate who she belongs to, as maiden Smurfs generally wear white hats until the wedding. Usually marriages are consummated through the intimate private ritual of "getting under one's hat". The only known recent marriage among the Smurfs is that of Empath Smurf and Smurfette, which took place about 10 years after Empath's final return from Psychelia. The product of that marriage was a daughter named Psycheliana Smurfette, who was born about five years after the wedding. It is assumed that the rest of Empath's generation had found mates and married in the years following Psycheliana's birth. Though two adult Smurfs of opposite sexes of any age can consent to a marriage, societal norms suggest that only Smurfs of the same physical age can marry. As in mainstream Smurfs media, Papa Smurf has attempted to express a desire to marry Smurfette, but even as that desire was perverted by his exposure to "pheromone cologne" which mutated him and amplified his desire, Smurfette never reciprocated in kind, saying that she could only love Papa Smurf as a father and nothing more. In an alternate timeline explored by Traveler Smurf, however, Smurfette fell in love with and married Papa Smurf, much to the disgust and consternation of her fellow Smurfs. The act of Papa Smurf having a daughter through Smurfette drove much of the village into a rebellion led by Empath that drove the new family as well as Polaris Psyche out of the village. In Psychelia, since any form of physical intimacy was considered taboo, Psyches of the same gender were paired together in a bonding ritual that would make them lifelong partners, allowing them to enter into a "dream space" through a dream sharing technique. The bonding ritual basically consists of Psyches removing the gloves of their bodysuits and touching the palms of each other's hands while emitting a pulse of telepathic energy through them, which at that point they both know who their partner is. It is through Empath bonding with his fellow Psyche Polaris that his partner learned that Empath was a Smurf and helped him control his emerging behaviors while still living in Psychelia. While Psychelian culture may consider Empath's pairing with Polaris a technical form of marriage, Empath's and Polaris' feelings for each other are more closer to being brothers as neither of them feel any sort of attraction toward each other. Tapper, although devout in the belief that homosexuality is unnatural, likens Empath's and Polaris' relationship with each other to being like that of David and Jonathan from The Holy Bible, of which David said upon his partner's passing that his love for him surpassed that of "the love of women". In the Mirror Universe, while Papa Smurf and Smurfette are both married to each other, Smurfette tends to be very unfaithful to her marriage and polyamorous in her relationships with her fellow Smurfs. Papa Smurf disapproves of this behavior with Smurfette, but allows it only on the grounds that his little Smurfs know that she is his wife first and foremost. Category:Smurf customs Category:Customs of other races Category:Mating and bonding rituals